Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one. ~ Jane Howard

We enter this week with a Super New Moon Partial Solar Eclipse, either late Thursday evening the 12th, or on the 13th of July. That is something of a mouthful. It is a Super Moon because, although we are unable to see it, the Moon is at its ‘perigee’, or closer point to the Earth in its orbit at the time of the New Moon. It is also a ‘Partial’ eclipse, meaning that the Moon will only partially obscure the Sun on the day of the New Moon, and will only be visible from the very southern part of Australia. These are small elements that make this a New Moon to pay attention to, at the very least, but perhaps the most important part of this equation is its exact opposition to the planet Pluto. Although small in stature, and traversing the outer bounds of our solar system, Pluto is a power to be reckoned with.

Pluto is indeed about power, including the use and abuse of it. This Moon is in the sign of Cancer, the sign of home, families, mothers, children and even the lack of these: homelessness, orphans, and families split apart. Cancer rules the very bedrock of society: the things that hold us together. Pluto threatens to tear these apart. This was something that was recently brought to our attention with the asylum seekers on the southern border of the United States. As young children, sometimes infants, were torn from their families in recents months, an international outcry poured out in response to this egregious violation justice and human rights.

These desperate migrants did not appear out of nowhere. The causes and conditions that brought them to our doorstep have a long history of even further abuses of power, that go back decades. For every action, intervention, and manipulation on the part of governments and their leaders, there is going to be a consequence and result. We are seeing just a small part of the consequences of the abuse of power in these beleaguered nations to our south, of which the United States played no small part. Pluto is also about old karmic wounds coming home to roost.

And sometimes there are powerful forces that are simply beyond our control. Pluto is also the Lord of the Underworld. In Thailand a group of boys, aged 11-16 were trapped in an underground cave over the past weeks. Finally through the intervention of numerous forces working together (including the station of Jupiter), the boys were gradually escorted out from this labyrinthine underwater series of interconnected tunnels. And more in the diluvian theme, more than 100 people are reported dead in historic rainfall, flooding and landslides in Japan. May we all successfully navigate the treacherous labyrinths of our own lives, and lead others to do so as well.

But there are also instances in which we give our power away. Usually what prevents us from feeling powerful, or that we don’t have any control over our own destiny, are deeply ingrained wounds, insecurities, and dialogues that convince us that we are powerless: that we do not have the ability to change our lives or the world. Pluto in Capricorn has been showing us the ways that those who have the wealth and already have the power, are trying to keep that power and use it to achieve their own ends. If we passively fall in line, we become their slaves to do their bidding. If we, the people, rise up with clear sight, honesty and courage to face hard truths, then we can transform society in magnificent ways. It all depends on how powerful we really think we are.

Pluto can crush and destroy, exhaust us and trap us. The feelings of oppression and powerlessness it can bring can be devastating even in our personal lives. Pluto in Capricorn can indeed represent powerful forces against which we feel we do not have any control. However, what we need to remind ourselves of is how powerful we really are. And so it is in our own lives, we may ask ourselves, where have we relinquished or given our power away? And what can we do to take greater control over the destiny of our own lives?

Pluto is the alchemist, the magician capable of transforming the most insurmountable of challenges into diamonds and gold. In the words of Joseph Campbell:

It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure. The very cave you are afraid to enter turns out to be the source of what you are looking for.

Eclipses, even partial eclipses, have this way of transforming our lives. These are times each year of endings and beginnings. And are often instrumental in getting us back on track, especially if we have gotten off track in some way. And since this is also a New Moon, it is a powerful opportunity to sow affirmations and intentions as a reset in our lives. The sign Cancer has domain over home, family, mothers, women in general, infants, emotional support, empathy, comradery, nurturing and community. It is a sign that has domain over the very bedrock and foundation of our society. May we all find strength and power in our own lives, and within our communities, in these changeable and sometimes unpredictable times.